Time & Space: What if geography were linked to timezones

[vroy]

This is one idea for solving the lack of people in Redstorm (or whatever) area.  What if different areas on the Zalanthan map were focused on servicing people in specific time zones in RL?

Being one of the people that does not live in GMT -5 to -8, I am somewhat annoyed that the times when it's convenient for me to get on, there are like six people on and I have no way to find them.  For all I know 2 are in Tuluk, one in Luir's Outpost, one in the 'rinth and another two wandering in the desert.

So here's my idea:
What if each area of the major areas in Zalanthas was targeted at people from a particular time zone (one for the Americas, one for Europe/Africa, and another for Asia/Oceania, for example)?

Are there even enough people playing outside the States to make this worthwhile?  I'm sure someone's gathered stats on this before, but I can't find them, so I'm attaching a poll.

[Lirs]

Hmf, you didn't put New Zealand and I refuse to put myself in the Australian geographical zone, so I'm going for other.

I don't know if limiting areas in that way will solve anything in regards to playing times, I know that I myself have changed when I play, logging on from work etc so that I can make peak playing times occasionally.  Otherwise it's hard to do things like get involved in any plots or even get employment.

Perhaps if people in countries other than the USA or Canada looked at what local websites there are that could be used to advertise/link to Armageddon, it may be a way to get more people in your timezone to play.  

- Lirael -

[Eternal]

The Germans think the French are sleeping with sheep.  The French think the English sleep with sheep.  The English think the Australians are sleeping with sheep.  The Australians think the New Zealanders sleep with sheep, and the New Zealanders think the Australians sleep with sheep.  All in all, western culture is either a lot of finger-pointing, or pointing other things at sheep.

A quote I once heard from a mediocre comedian at Yukyuk's in the West Edmonton Mall.

This idea seems like an imposition of ooc things on ic... and I'm horribly against that.  I'm all for clans coordinating their play-times, but to say that "Allanak, oh you don't want to play there, it's only filled during the EST" or "Storm's only active late at night, due to it being more popular during GMT", etc. just bugs me.

I believe it would hurt more than it would help, causing people to -only- log on during those times.  We'd probably have more players during "peak" hours in any area, but they'd only stick around until the base started dying off, then go "oh, I guess the game's over for today".

Not a good idea, imo... but a good suggestion.  

[Hoodwink]

I believe it would hurt more than it would help, causing people to -only- log on during those times.

While I'm not certain I agree with creating different regions of the game time zone specific, I'm quite certain that I would not log on only during times I knew other players were around.  As a European player I've found myself forced to be content with playing whether there are players around or not.  Furthermore there are many occasions when 40 players are online and I do not encounter a single one, based on my location in the game.  Therefore I don't think it would be detrimental to offer a suggested time zone for certain players.  It doesn't mean you will logon only during these times, it just means you have some idea when to expect others to be around.  Isn't this known as RPT?  (We called it that on another MUD)

I don't know what I would reccomend to help players coordinate playing times better other than clans.  If you want to RP with someone, join a clan, that way you can generally get an OOC contact with them to generate a schedule.  If you are in Red Storm why not attempt to work for House Kurac?  I think it would be neat if there was a group of Kuracis down there, it would certainly invite more players to visit the village too, especially if they had something to sell that other places did not.

[Eternal]

I find myself forced to use an arguement that was previously used against me... how strange.

No, those players who play through thick and thin would not, exactly as those players who only use who c to find their clanmates would not log off if none of the others were on.  However, in a recent discussion about that command, it was generally concensed that -many- do just that, logging on, checking to see if others are on, then logging immediately off.

I would think that an ooc imposition of time zones, or even a suggestion of which are most popular, would probably only cut -down- on players during non-suggested times.

RPT here is recommended playing time, but usually means a specific event will occur.  Like an extraordinary arena match or a Fale party... or a war... but the latter usually constitutes HRPT... highly.

[Sandferret]

I do not like the idea at all, to be blunt. It would force the 'minority' groups to play where they might not want to or play a character they might not choose freely. Furthermore, it would lead into more and more player recycling i.e. always playing with the same people, just the characters changing. It  certainly happens now, but there is more variety.

Personally, I have stayed up throughout the night, gotten up at ungodly hours ( 3.am., 4 a.m.) to participate in an event. That is not the ideal either. I still wouldn't want to be pushed into some remote corner of the world just to see it peak once a day.

Perhaps an alternative would be for each clan to have RPTs set to coincide with the prime playing time of its players. Some might make it to more than one, which would link people together.

I was going to first suggest having this made worldwide, but I would be apprehensive to head out to a popular meeting place for the OOC reason that now is the RPT. Especially since more than likely the RPT would also bring in several people only looking to kill someone. They might come up with a motive IC to kill my PC, but the 'availability' would remain a factor. This would, I think, also be the case in being stuffed away in a certain geographical region.

*/rant off

[Carnage]

A good RPT is strongly founded by a good leader. Your RPT leader should be taking into account play times and the like.

As for the localized idea, I don't like it at all. It alienates the playerbase from each other. It has merit, and I'm glad that you brought another idea to the board, but I don't think it will work. It makes it hard for an American to play in an all Austrailian area, or vice versa.

[vroy]

Sorry for not including the land of Tanewha.   :oops: I had included Oceania in the text of my message but then when I was writing the poll, I thot "ah, all those Polynesians can figure out that they're either in the Asian or American time zone." My bad.

To return to the topic at hand:
I'm not saying that people would have to play in a certain area.  What I'm suggesting is that there be suggested playing areas for specific time zones to give people the option.  People can still log on anytime they want and can still play in whatever city they want.   But for those players who like:
a) to log on at a specific time during the day, and
b) to interact with other PCs when they play
it would give them more options.

Maybe this is a personal problem.  I've found the number one reason my characters get killed is boredom.  I wander around for a while, find there's nothing to do and no one to interact with and then end up doing something stupid (going out into the desert, going into the Labyrinth, breaking the law, trying to push the limits of the system since I can only interact with the code rather than living people).  How many newbies have we lost because of that very reason?  (Do we have stats on how many newbies we lose?)  We say that we value role play above all else, but I often feel that emoting while no one else is present feels like a form of RP masturbation.

Anyway, since most of the people playing are probably in the US and Canada maybe this isn't an issue.  On the other hand, maybe most of our player base is in the US and Canada because they're in the time zone with the most interaction (now we need really sophisticated stats like, of newbies that drop out, what percentage are from what part of the world).

Sorry for the long rant, but if this game weren't so damn addicting,  :evil:  this probably wouldn't be so important to me.